§ LIBRARY OF CONGRESS, | 




JBisoIuMans anb Jtilirfssfs 



RELATIVE TO THE DEATH OF 



Hon. Robert M.T^riggs, 



PRESENTED AND DELIVERED 



ON 



&fu 23* Bus oi JF*fcruarg, a. 33. 1869 



PUBLISHED BY REQUEST OF THE FAMILY 



CINCINNATI : 
ROBERT CLARKE & CO., Printers, 
65 West Fourth Street. 
1869. 



Okie?. Court eff com IT7 c>y\ j>\ -ca,$, (J^y "* 



^solutions ani 3£bbpfSSFS 



KELATIVE TO THE DEATH OF 



Hon. Robert M. Brxggs, 



PRESENTED AND DELIVERED 



— ON 



Efte 23Xi Bun oi JFstoruarg, a. m. 1869. 



PUBLISHED BY REQUEST OF THE FAMILY. 



CINCINNATI : 
EOBEET CLAEKE & CO., Printers, 
65 West Fourth Street. 
1869. 



.32-5 



g 



Born &prU 20, & 2i. 1831. 
23CeH iWbntarg 9, & 21. 1869. 



NOTE. 



The proceedings of which the following pages 
contain a part, were had on the morning of the 
23d of February, 1869, at the opening of the 
February Term of the Court of Common Pleas 
of Fayette county, Ohio. 

On ordering the resolutions to be spread upon 
the journal, the Court — the Honorable William 
H. Safford — submitted some appropriate and 
feeling remarks, which, it is to be regretted, were 
not written out and furnished for publication. An 
explanation of the publication of the addresses 
to which the following pages are devoted, will be 
found in the subjoined correspondence. 



Washington C. H., Ohio, \ 
February 2$th, 1869. J 

Gentlemen : 

Inasmuch as we were not 
present — and, with propriety, could not, perhaps, 
have been — on the 23d inst., at the ceremonies in 
Court, in respect to the death of Robert M. 
Briggs, we, the widow, mother, and sister of the 
deceased, respectfully request you to permit the 
publication of the addresses delivered by your- 
selves on that occasion. To have the addresses in 
a permanent form will afford us much satisfaction, 
and we will preserve them as cherished keepsakes. 
Very respectfully, 

CATHARINE BRIGGS, 
HELEN BRIGGS, 
JEAN M. PALMER. 

To 

Hon. R. A. Harrison, and 
Judge James Sloane. 



Washington C. H., Ohio, 1 
February i$th, 1869. j 

Gentlemen : 

My wife, and the widow 
and mother of Judge Briggs, having addressed 
you a request to permit, to be published, the 
remarks made by you on the occasion of the cere- 
monies, in the Court of Common Pleas of this 
county, in regard to his death, I would thank you 
to furnish me the necessary manuscripts, so that 
I may have them printed in pamphlet form. If 
you comply with the request, I will include in the 
pamphlet the resolutions adopted on the occasion. 
Yours, respectfully, 

C. A. PALMER. 

Judge James Sloane, 
Hon. R. A. Harrison. 



Washington C. H., Ohio, ) 
February 2$th, 1869. f 

C. A. Palmer, Esq., 

Dear Sir : 

We can not 

hesitate to comply with the request the ladies and 
yourself have done us the honor to make, — each 
regretting, however, that his address was not more 
worthy the subject, and appropriate to the occasion. 
The manuscripts are at your service. 
With respect, 

J. SLOANE, 

R. A. HARRISON. 



ADDRESS 

OF 

E. A. HARRISON. 



May it please the Court : 

The sad fact of the recent sudden death of Robert M. 
Briggs, formerly the Judge of this Court, and at the time 
of his decease the leader of this Bar, has been known to 
your Honor, and to us all, from the hour it transpired. 
I do not, therefore, rise for the purpose of making a formal 
announcement of the sorrowful event. But I rise to pre- 
sent to the Court some Resolutions, passed by his brethren 
of the Bar. I will now read them, and move the Court to 
order them to be entered on the journal. They are as fol- 
lows : 

Resolved, That the death of Robert M. Briggs, in the prime 
of his life and in the ripening season of his professional reputa- 
tion and usefulness, is cause for grief to all who knew him; and 
to his brethren of the Bar and of the Bench he formerly hon- 
ored, and to the State at large, is truly a calamity. A true and 
warm-hearted gentleman, he won the esteem of all, and the affec- 
tion of every one whose good fortune it was to know him inti- 



mately. As the representative of the State, in the capacity of 
prosecuting attorney, in the beginning of his professional 
career, he protected the interests of the public and main- 
tained the dignity of the State, without depriving the accused 
of his just legal rights, or oppressing him in any way. As a 
Legislator, he was wise and able, and left the impress of his supe- 
rior wisdom upon the statute book of his adopted State. As 
a Judge, he was eminently quick and clear in his perception of 
the law and the right, and remarkably firm, impartial, and inde- 
pendent, yet patient and courteous, in their maintenance ; and, 
guided to his conclusions by the light of a brilliant and discrimi- 
nating intellect, he acquired an honest fame in the judicial his- 
tory of Ohio, and won the richly-merited name of a good and 
faithful Judge. As a Lawyer, he was industrious, clear-headed, 
ready, and the very soul of honorable forensic warfare — as judi- 
cious and suggestive in the counsel-room as he was persuasive 
and effective in the court-house. By a rare and happy combina- 
tion of the faculties and acquirements of an able lawyer, he /had 
attained, at the time of his death, a standing and reputation very 
seldom reached by one so young upon a stage of action not more 
elevated and extended than his. 

We tender to his family and relatives our sincere condolence 
in their terrible and unspeakable affliction. And we join with the 
members of the Bar of Ohio, by whom he was well known and 
highly appreciated, in heartfelt regrets for the loss of one of its 
brightest ornaments. 

Resolved, That a copy of these resolutions be presented to the 
Court of Common Pleas of Fayette county, upon the opening of 
its next term, to-morrow, with a request that the same be entered 
on the Journal of the Court, and that a duly certified copy thereof 
be delivered by the Clerk to the family of our departed brother. 

Having read these resolutions, I desire, with the permis- 
sion of the Court, to submit a few remarks. 

Robert M. Briggs was born in the city of Richmond, 



#tt the IBtuth oi Jutffle MvIqq^ 



9 



Virginia, on the 20th day of April, A. D. 1831. He was 
the son of Dr. Robert Briggs, of that city. Dr. Briggs 
died when his son Robert was about fifteen years of age. 
The widow of Dr. Briggs shortly afterward removed, with 
her son and daughter, from Richmond to this county. She 
afterward removed to the village of Greenfield, in the 
adjoining county of Highland. At Greenfield, Robert 
attended school several years. After leaving school, he 
studied medicine for about a year. He then concluded to 
cease further preparation for the practice of medicine, and 
adopted the legal profession as his vocation. He at once 
began the study of the law. He had no preceptor. But, 
during the winter months, he attended the Cincinnati Law 
School, from which he graduated in the spring of the year 
1852. 

He immediately entered upon the practice of the law in 
the city of Chillicothe. In the autumn of the year 1852, he 
intermarried with Miss Kate Robinson, of Greenfield. He 
continued the practice of the law at Chillicothe until the 
spring of the year 1853, wnen ne removed to Washington 
C H. Here he almost at once obtained a good practice. 
In the Fall of the year 1857, ne was elected a member of 
the House of Representatives of Ohio. In the summer 
after the first session of the legislature, he was nominated 
as a candidate for additional Judge of the Courts of Com- 
mon Pleas of this judicial district. He thereupon resigned 
his seat in the legislature. He was elected Judge at the 
fall election of 1858, and entered upon the discharge of 
his duties in February, 1859. His term of office expired 



io attorns oi 1U & ^nvvlBon 



in five years from the latter date. Litigation having dimin- 
ished during the war, the legislature repealed most of the 
acts creating additional Judges. Among them, was the 
act under which Judge Briggs was elected. Immediately 
after the Judge thus retired from the Bench, he again 
entered upon the practice of the law. His office and resi- 
dence were at Washington C. H., but he had a heavy and 
extensive circuit practice. While in attendance upon the 
Common Pleas, in Chillicothe, at its late term, he became 
ill, and, after a brief illness, he departed this life on Tues- 
day, the 9th day of February, A. D. 1869, in the thirty- 
eighth year of his age. He left his mother and sister, and 
his wife and four sons and a daughter, surviving. 

For fifteen years I enjoyed Judge Briggs' intimacy. 
During that time, he was my closest confidential friend. 
His death is, to me, a loss as irreparable as it was unex- 
pected. The event interrupts the current of my life. I 
regret my inability to speak of him as I still see him with 
my mind's eye, and in such a manner as the emotions of 
my heart prompt me to speak. 

Judge Briggs was a man of noble nature. He was as 
generous as he was just. He was "open as day .to melt- 
ing charity." He was a genial gentleman. The glowing, 
cheering warmth of his amiable temper and pleasing humor, 
was perpetual. He carried their sunshine into the very 
field of his daily labors. Every one who came within the 
wide circle of his acquaintance, felt and richly enjoyed 
their influence; and I have never known any man who was 
so universally and heartily welcomed by his friends, when- 



<&n the Heath of Jutige tttiQQB. 



11 



ever and wherever they met him. In manners, he was 
unassuming, unaffected, simple. In his intercourse with 
his associates, he was gentle, kind, cordial, candid, and 
unreserved, but considerate. His powers of conversation 
were wonderful, and most fascinating. His moral consti- 
tution was untainted with selfishness, jealousy, or envy. 
The passion of avarice was alien to every emotion, impulse 
and feeling of his nature. Indeed, his generosity, liberality 
and benevolence, were so bountiful and constant in their 
flow, that, in the opinion of some of his friends, they 
verged upon, if they did not reach, the point of improvi- 
dence. I knew no more hospitable hearth and home than 
his. He was free from the fault or vice of intolerance. 
Firm, but respectful, in the maintenance of his own con- 
victions and principles, he conceded to all men the same 
freedom of opinion which he himself exercised. He was 
of strict veracity and spotless integrity. Manliness was 
one of his chief characteristics. He had unflinching cour- 
age, moral as well as physical. When duty required, he 
could and did, as I have seen him on more than one occa- 
sion, both on the Bench and at the Bar, resist and stem the 
surging tide of popular passion and prejudice. 

The mental characteristics of Judge Briggs were no less 
striking than his moral and social. His mind was singularly 
active, clear, fertile, discriminating, and brilliant. It had, 
also, a wide range. His intellect was suggestive, and his 
mental resources never failed him. His fancy added much 
to the beauty, charm, and persuasiveness of his public ad- 
dresses, as well as to his private conversation. He touched 



12 &ttoms of H- &. Harrison 



few subjects that he did not embellish. While he con- 
vinced the judgment, he moved the heart. 

Judge Briggs, during his short, but most busy life, was 
called to occupy many public stations. He discharged the 
duties of each with alacrity, diligence, fidelity, and ability. 

The first official position filled by him was that of 
Prosecuting Attorney. During his service in it, he 
prosecuted the guilty to conviction, but the accused, 
whether guilty or innocent, never had reason to feel that 
the State, through its attorney, had treated him with un- 
fairness, harshness, or oppression. He was next elected 
to the Legislature. I had the good fortune to serve with 
him one session as a member of the same body. I sat 
beside him in the hall of the House, and occupied the 
same rooms at the hotel. I profited much by his intelli- 
gence, sound judgment, and advice, which he bestowed as 
liberally and sincerely, as though I had been his brother. 
He was a member of two of the most important standing 
committees of the House. Unlike many members, he 
was as diligent and industrious in the seclusion of the 
committee-room, as he was active and prominent on the 
floor of the House. He was influential and useful in 
both. He introduced several important measures, some 
of which were adopted, and they still stand in the statute 
book, as evidence of his wisdom, as well as a capacity for 
statesmanship on a more extended and elevated stage for 
its development, cultivation, and exercise. 

Although he was one of the youngest men of the Leg- 
islature, yet, when he left it, he left also in the minds of 



all his fellow-members, a lively and lasting appreciation of 
his superior talents, genial disposition, and great moral 
worth. His constituents not only approved of his legis- 
lative career; but they appreciated and recognized (as well 
they might) the honor and satisfaction of having such a 
Representative. 

During the recess between the first and second sessions 
of the General Assembly of which he was a member, he 
was elected Judge of the Courts of Common Pleas of this 
District. Although the late St. Clair Boys, of Hillsbo- 
rough, was an opposing candidate, and the result was 
believed to be doubtful, Judge Briggs declined to " take 
the stump," at the instance and request of the party friends 
by whom he was nominated ; and in a courageous and 
masterly letter addressed by him to them, he pointed out 
the impropriety of the practice, and demonstrated the evil 
consequences that would result from its general adoption. 
I mention this as but one of the many instances of Judge 
Briggs' nice sense of propriety, conservative principles, 
and moral courage. Summoned to the responsible position 
of Common Pleas Judge, at an unprecedented early age in 
this District, he, nevertheless, almost at once took a high 
rank as a magistrate. The members of the Bar very soon 
saw and recognized the fact that his mind, temper, habits, 
learning, and manners, specially fitted him for the Bench. 
In fact, they were soon convinced that he possessed every 
qualification of a perfect nisi prius Judge. They saw he 
had quickness of perception, a thorough knowledge of the 
general principles of the law and of the rules of practice, 



14 strums of it* & Utarrfson 



readiness in the application of both, a clear and strong 
sense of justice, unflagging industry, strict impartiality, 
great firmness, unsuspected integrity, manly independence, 
uniform patience, respectful and kindly bearing towards 
all, and a strong and constant sense of the responsibilities 
of his office. The clearness with which he expressed his 
thoughts, and the aptness with which he illustrated a legal 
proposition, enabled jurors as well as lawyers, to easily 
and clearly comprehend him. The exercise of the minis- 
terial power of his office was not necessary to secure 
decorum in his court. Regard and admiration for the 
man, insured, better than power would have done, respect 
for the law, whose minister he was. He never allowed 
popular passion and prejudice to intervene in preventing 
the firm and equal administration of justice according to 
law. While he entertained a just regard for precedents, 
he always sought to base his rulings and decisions upon 
right reason and just principle. So ably, justly, kindly, 
yet firmly, did he discharge his judicial duties and exercise 
his judicial functions, that when he left the Bench, it is 
literally true that there was not a single lawyer in his 
entire district who did not sincerely regret the loss which 
he, as well as the cause of law and justice, thereby sus- 
tained. Such a statement could not be truthfully made, 
had faults and imperfections marred his judicial action. 
He ^would have scorned, while occupying the judgment- 
seat, to practice the arts of the seeker after popular favor 
or praise. He may have believed the fact, that the most 
faithful judge is, in the long run, the most popular. But 



<£n tfur mtuth oi Julrge MvIqqs. 15 



had he believed the truth of that fact, it would not have 
even occurred to his upright judicial mind in such a con- 
nection ; for, he enforced the law, for the law's sake, — he 
did right for the rights' sake — and he administered justice, 
for justices' sake. 

Judge Briggs made a wise choice when he adopted the 
law for his profession. The structure, activity, and 
strength of his mind, his penetrating insight into men's 
characters and motives, and his clear perception of right, 
admirably fitted him for the skillful and efficient discharge 
of its varied, important, and difficult duties. Hence, he 
was eminent both as counselor and advocate ; for, he was 
wise in counsel, able in the presentation and argument of 
cases and questions to the Court ; and in the trial of a 
jury cause he was almost irresistible, unless his case was a 
hopeless one. He spoke fluently, easily, gracefully, and 
persuasively. He was always, in the conduct of a case, 
self-possessed. He was never thrown off his guard. 
Thorough preparation, and unusual readiness in meeting 
any phase that a case might even unexpectedly assume, 
made him a formidable trial lawyer. His candor and 
fairness added to his power with both Court and jury ; for, 
he never resorted to the sophistry or tricks of the petti- 
fogger, nor endeavored to obtain an underhanded advan- 
tage. Fidelity to his clients was one of his virtues as a 
lawyer : but he never attempted to outrage law or justice 
to please a client. He met every position and argument 
of his opponent fairly. If, by fair discussion, he became 
convinced of the error of a proposition, he frankly ac- 



knowledged the error. He had no pride of opinion which 
prevented him from being a faithful worshiper at the 
shrine of truth and justice. As associate counsel, he was 
worthy of adoption as a model. Perhaps I had the good 
fortune of being his colleague in more cases than any of 
his associates had. In every case, he cheerfully performed 
his full share of the labor, and he never shrank from 
sharing, as well as facing, every responsibility which it 
involved. He was true, just, generous, towards a col- 
league. He listened patiently, and considered respectfully, 
every suggestion of his associate, whether he was his junior 
or his senior. He never deserted a colleague, either 
before, or during, or after, the trial of a cause. Nay, he 
would, at the peril of personal sacrifice, sustain and uphold 
one who, from his inexperience, was illy qualified to take 
care of himself in a contest with the Court or opposing 
counsel. The younger members of the Bar never applied 
to him in vain, for advice, aid, or consolation. Although 
his own advancement was rapid and comparatively easy, 
he knew that in our embarrassing and difficult profession, 
progress in it is generally " through much tribulation." 
His junior brethren were his especial favorites, and he was 
beloved and confided in by them. He didn't patronize 
them, but he helped them as became such a man. An 
experienced lawyer who is justly entitled to that praise, is 
a man of good heart \ and the younger members of the 
Bar ought to strive, with diligence, to merit the aid, sym- 
pathy, and counsel, of such ornaments of the profession. 
While Judge Briggs did strive, with all diligence, to attain 



<&n the Btuth oi Jutrge Mviqqb. 



17 



eminence in his profession, he did not endeavor to rise by 
keeping others back, nor by pulling others down. I have 
before said he was entirely free from envy and jealousy. 
This fact shows the elevation and greatness of his mind, 
and the generosity of his heart. Whatever ambition 
Judge Briggs had, was the noble ambition of intellectual 
achievement, in the line of his duty as a member of the 
profession to which he was warmly attached, and as a citi- 
zen of the State and country he loved. 

Judge Briggs hated and denounced oppression and 
tyranny in all its forms and under all circumstances. Al- 
though he was born in the midst of slavery, and inherited 
property in slaves, he was bitterly and openly, but not 
fanatically, opposed to it. He emancipated his slaves. 
While he was too good and intelligent a citizen to advo- 
cate or approve of any measure devised for its restriction 
or eradication, which he did not believe was authorized by 
the Constitution of his country, he did favor and advocate 
every measure, justified, in his opinion, by the supreme 
law, that tended to mitigate the evils and prevent the 
spread of slavery in the land. His opposition to the insti- 
tution did not spring from the bad passions of the heart, 
but from its noblest inspirations. He was not moved by 
envy or hatred towards the slaveholder, but from feelings 
of justice and sympathy for the slave — from a desire that 
he should enjoy his just rights and be allowed every oppor- 
unity to rise in the scale of being. His hatred of what 
he regarded tyranny, and his love of country and obedience 
to her Constitution, were exemplified during the late war. 



While he was an unflinching, active, and influential sup- 
porter of every measure suggested or adopted for the 
suppression of the rebellion, and for which he could find 
any warrant in the Constitution, he boldly opposed every 
measure claimed to be a " war measure," which he believed 
would or did violate the constitutional rights of individual 
citizens in the districts where actual war did not prevail. 
Hence, he consistently and firmly denounced what were, 
during the war, aptly described as " arbitrary arrests." 

When the war closed, and the Government again stood 
firmly, while he favored the adoption of such measures as 
seemed necessary to properly and safely restore the revolted 
States to their practical relations with the General Govern- 
ment, he opposed every scheme of reconstruction which 
savored of a policy founded upon revenge. He could not 
be convinced that the true function of a Ruler is that of 
an Avenger. The policy he advocated, was a policy 
whose foundation was, " Malice towards none ; Charity 
for all." These being his views and sentiments, native to 
his very nature, his late political action is not to be won- 
dered at. That there was aught in the action of the 
Federal Government since the suppression of the rebellion 
to warrant Judge Briggs in renouncing the party with 
which he had acted before and during the war, is not for 
me now and here to say. But I am free to say, and I take 
pleasure in saying, that there is not a doubt that Judge 
Briggs in taking the course he did during the late political 
campaign, was actuated by as pure motives, and as earnest 
a desire to promote the good of his country, as prompted 



19 



and inspired him while acting with and supporting, during 
the war, the war party. No doubt the views, which 
caused him to change his party association, were as much 
the result of the magnanimous and forgiving feelings of 
his generous heart, as the deliberate conclusions of his 
clear and enlightened judgment. 

But, alas ! our gentle, genial, brilliant, noble, companion 
and friend, is gone ! His splendid intellect is quenched ! 
His great, generous heart is still in death ! We mourn his 
loss. The triumphs of his genius, in some degree, assuage 
our grief. When, for the last time, I gazed upon his 
handsome, familiar face, then paralyzed by the cold hand 
of death, I saw upon his noble brow, the live wreath of 
his honest fame. That will still live. 



20 



attorns oi 3* Blount 



ADDRESS 

OF 

JUDGE SLOANE. 



May it please the Court : 

There may be those present who, from the greater 
length and closer intimacy of their acquaintance with the 
deceased, have a better right to speak on this occasion 
than I ; but, surely, there is no one more willing to offer — 
poor though my offering may be — the tribute of his sincere 
praise to the memory of Robert M. Briggs, and to join 
in an expression of that unfeigned grief for his untimely 
loss, which is felt, in common, by us all. I most heartily 
concur in every sentiment, so tastefully and sensibly 
expressed by the resolutions which have been read by Mr. 
Harrison, and the authorship of which is so honorable to 
his head and heart. I no less sincerely endorse every 
thought and sentiment he has so eloquently, so feelingly, 



#n the Btuth oi Ju*se Mvxqqs. 



21 



and with such marked propriety, expressed in his address in 
support of the motion to have the resolutions entered of 
record. 



Mortuary addresses are often very worthless things. 
When they are a tribute merely to the exalted position 
the man may have occupied, and the tribute is paid to the 
officer, not to the man; when the speaker, by reason of 
the position he occupies, is constrained to speak ; when to 
speak is a labor to be performed, instead of a privilege of 
which the speaker, willlingly, though mournfully, avails 
himself j when the heart is not in the work, but the intel- 
lect alone is concerned, and is tortured to find, and to 
weave into ornate sentences, hyperbolical terms of eulogy, 
not at all descriptive of the man on whom they are 
bestowed, and which portray not, his character, but that of 
some imaginary being — the production is worse than worth- 
less. It is not praise : it is censure ; for it carries with it 
the implication that there was nothing in the real character 
of the man, worthy of praise, nor, in his death, any thing 
to produce sorrow — that the truth, plainly told, would be 
condemnation. But, when heartfelt sorrow impels the 
speaker, and real affection supplies, and truth and good 
sense moderate, his utterances, the address is praise, how- 
ever awkward and homely it may be. Its value is in its 
sincerity. 

We are, to-day, going through no hollow formality. 



22 



Our hearts are in that which we say and do ; and, in the 
sorrow which we feel, and are attempting to express, the 
whole community around us truly and deeply sympathize 
and participate. 



Judge Briggs was my friend, "faithful and just to me," 
and I sincerely and deeply deplore his loss ; and, in 
attempting to speak of him here and now, my only embar- 
rassment arises from the conviction that I am not equal to 
the undertaking of setting forth, fittingly and worthily, 
the merits of one whom all here knew so well, admired so 
much, respected so sincerely, honored so highly, and loved 
so truly. 

On the day of his admission to the bar, I became 
acquainted with him. Thenceforward, until the day of 
his death, a friendship existed between us, which knew no 
change, which rivalry could not interrupt, nor envy mar. 
I knew him as lawyer, judge, gentleman, as host, as guest, 
as companion. In each of these positions and relations, I 
knew him thoroughly ; and I knew him only to admire 
him, to honor him, and to love him. I knew him well as 
associate counsel, as adverse counsel, and as judge upon 
the bench. Let me speak of him first in these last three 
relations. 



23 



As associate counsel, he was entirely and eminently 
agreeable, never failing liberally to contribute his full share 
of labor to the performance of the work in hand. With 
a mind remarkably active, quick of perception, and fruitful 
of thought, he readily foresaw, and clearly pointed out, the 
difficulties to be encountered in the trial of a case, and 
suggested the means whereby to meet or obviate them. 
Though he thought boldly and rapidly, he always listened 
attentively and respectfully to the suggestions of others ; 
and, though firm in his own convictions, and reluctant to 
surrender a position he thought well fortified by reason, he 
was not dogmatical nor opinionated, but, when satisfied by 
fair argument that he was wrong, always good-naturedly and 
gracefully yielded the erroneous opinion. In a word, he had 
none of that little, mean spirit of assumption and pretense, 
which renders its possessor incapable of correction, and 
induces him always to claim precedence in the case, and 
even to sacrifice the client's rights, rather than admit his 
own fallibility. 

In the conduct of the trial, when it came on, he was 
cool, collected, and wary, seldom ever observed to be in 
that condition which we call " non-plussed" or " flustered 
for, always preparing thoroughly, it was rarely, indeed, that 
anything arose in its progress which he had not foreseen, 
and for which he was not well forearmed. He was invari- 
ably respectful to witnesses. To the Court, he was defer- 
ential, and to counsel, courteous. But he was a brave 
man — and I use the word "brave" purposely, and, I main- 
tain, correctly ; for, sometimes in the trial of a case, more 



24 



real courage is required to maintain one's personal and pro- 
fessional rights, and properly to present and represent a 
client's interests, than is needed to charge a battery. 
When the populace behind the bar cry, " Crucify him ! 
crucify him," and a cowardly and venal judge upon the 
bench is but too willing to yield to their demands, and 
though, like Pilate, constrained to say "I find in him no 
fault at all," is, nevertheless, disposed to deliver him up to 
be scourged, merely to gratify the mob, and to avoid pro- 
nouncing a decision displeasing to them, it requires real 
courage in a lawyer to tell such a judge plainly to his 
teeth : " You are outraging the law," and indignantly to ask 
him, in behalf of the wronged client : " Thou whited wall," 
" Sittest thou to judge me after the law, and commandest 
me to be smitten contrary to the law ?" But this Judge 
Briggs had, whenever need was, the courage to do, and, 
doing it, he never lacked the spirit and ability to do it well. 
No man was more prompt than he to resist and rebuke 
the tyrannical encroachments of the bench upon the rights 
and privileges of the bar. He was, I have said, deferential 
to the bench ; but he was incapable of cringing before it, 
or, from interested motives, and in order to curry favor, 
and be on "good terms with the judge," of offering up 
servile adulation to any low-bred fellow who might happen 
to occupy the position. 



As opposing counsel, I certainly knew him well ; for I 



25 



was far more frequently opposed to, than associated with, 
him. He had, in a high degree, zeal for his client's inter- 
ests — a merit not, by any means, the least among those of 
a useful and trustworthy lawyer, and that, without which, 
all other qualifications are but too apt to be nearly useless. 
Being zealous, he was, of course, always industrious and 
thorough in preparation for, and active, earnest, and bold 
in, the trial of, a case. Whoever met him, had need to 
come to the work well prepared, and with a salutary con- 
viction that everything that could be properly controverted 
at all, would be, by his adversary, most ably contested. 
But neither his zeal for his client's interests, nor the laud- 
able spirit of fair rivalry, nor the heat and excitement of 
debate, could betray Judge Briggs into discourtesy, ribaldry, 
or coarseness of any kind ; he was always the perfect gen- 
tleman. He could, and always did, appreciate the differ- 
ence between a trial and a quarrel. He could differ from 
a man, and not quarrel with him. He did not pervert 
every trial into a question of a great manery." To assail 
a proposition of his, was not to insult him. He delighted 
in debate, and recognized it as the business of a lawyer to 
show that he is right, and not arrogantly to assume to be. 
Hence, he never " oracle-ized " — never put on the I-am- 
Sir-Oracle style and manner. He was kind, candid, just, 
and generous, in a rare degree ; and no one who knew well 
his qualities as a " trial lawyer," and an advocate, will deny 
him the praise Moore bestowed on Sheridan : 



26 



m^vtsz of J. Sloane 



" Whose humor as gay as the fire-fly's light, 

Played round every subject, and shone as it played; 
Whose wit, in the combat, as gentle as bright, 

Ne'er carried a heart-stain away on its blade." 



As a Judge, he was almost faultless. Courteous and 
accommodating to the Bar, he, nevertheless, well knew, 
and put no low estimate upon, the rights of the Bench, 
and the respect due to it from the Bar. But he also well 
knew, that the Bench, in order to be respected, must be 
occupied by a respectable person ; and as he was always 
diligent in the transaction of business, and discharged every 
official duty politely, impartially, uprightly, and ably, he 
never had need to employ the power of the Bench, to 
enforce obedience to his authority, or respect for himself, 
for these were always freely rendered ; more, too, as a tribute 
to the worth of the man, than as an acknowledgment of 
the dignity and consequence of the position. The Bar 
respected the 'Judge, because they loved and honored the 
man. When he left the Bench, he had not, among the 
Bar, within the whole district, a single enemy, nay, there 
was not one, I am safe in saying, who was not warmly his 
personal friend. 

He was, in the most honorable and exalted sense of the 
words, an upright and a brave Judge — bravely upright. A 
coward judge can not be an upright one. The slave of 
public opinion or party tyranny, he always yields to popular 



the l&tuth oi Ju&se MvIqqb. 



27 



clamor, and, oftentimes, becomes, on the Bench, the mere 
mouthpiece of the mob, to announce their will as his judg- 
ment. The question with such a one, is not, " What does 
the law declare ?" but, " What does the mob demand ? " 
This most despicable and infamous of all characters, Judge 
Briggs was not. He had none, whatever, of the elements 
of such a character in him. No one ever suspected him 
of yielding to the influences I have named, or to any like 
influences, or to any improper influences of any kind. No 
one ever dared to think of attempting to sway him, in the 
discharge of his judicial duties, by any sort of improper 
appliances. 

But he had not only judicial integrity, in the sense of 
being just and impartial, and far above the reach of any 
improper influences ; he had, besides, in an eminent degree, 
logical integrity, also. He was an honest reasoner. He 
reasoned fairly and directly ; and never thought of discard- 
ing his own fairly-drawn deductions, or of shrinking from 
the conclusion to which his own reasoning was bringing 
him, in order to escape the enunciation of a disagreeable 
decision. 

He never assumed to be wiser than the law. He did 
not go in search of outside equities. The justice he un- 
dertook to administer, was justice according to law ; as Judge, 
he knew no other. Though quick to perceive, and keenly 
appreciative of, the peculiar and exceptional justice in any 
particular case, he did not, to attain and administer that 
peculiar and exceptional justice, "palter in a double sense" 
with his conscience and his official oath, and pervert or 



28 



repudiate well-settled rules of law. He was content to 
declare the law \ he did not arrogate the right to make it. 
He believed in the doctrine of stare decisis ; but a bold and 
thorough reasoner himself, it was not the mere say-so of a 
Court, to which he bowed as authority. On the contrary, 
a precedent was valuable to him, only in so far as it was 
warranted by sound reasoning. He was, therefore, never 
guilty, in making up his judgment in a case, of what law- 
yers call, " sticking in the bark ; " he clearly perceived, and 
went directly to, the very substance and marrow of the 
thing. 

His manners on the Bench were most admirable. When 
a lawyer was addressing him, he paid the strictest attention, 
looking him courteously and respectfully in the face, and 
when he decided a case, he did not attempt to pervert or 
belittle the arguments against which he decided, but stated 
them with fairness, and answered them with candor, omit- 
ting to notice no consideration which had been urged. 
Quick of perception, and always attentive, he made the 
work of argument, not only pleasant, but comparatively 
easy; for, in many instances, it was enough simply to state 
to him a proposition which, to a less bright and clear- 
minded judge, it would have been necessary laboriously to 
argue. 

He had none of that little vanity which promptsthe 
weak judge always to attempt to appear wiser and smarter 
than the lawyers, and, in deciding a case or a question, to 
parade some far-fetched reasons, not mentioned by counsel 
in the argument. He was far above such shallow pre- 



29 



tenses and silly charlatanry. Possessed of genuine judicial 
ability, he could well afford to be. 

To conclude this hasty and imperfect sketch of his 
character as a Judge, I think I may say, warranted by the 
unanimous opinion of the Bar and the Public, and without 
offense, either, to any other gentleman, who, in these later 
times, has occupied the position, that Robert M. Briggs 
was, taken all in all, the best Common Pleas Judge we 
have, for many a year, seen upon the Bench in this Dis- 
trict, and that his was a judicial mind never, perhaps, 
surpassed, as such, by any in the State. 



I have said that I knew Judge Briggs well, as host, as 
guest, as companion : and what lawyer ever visited Wash- 
ington, while the Judge resided here, that did not know 
him in the former capacity ? Rarely did a term of Court 
pass by, during which the attending lawyers from a dis- 
tance, did not meet each other at the hospitable fireside 
and table of Judge Briggs. Friendly, companionable, and 
confiding, it was his delight to meet and welcome them 
there ; and, happy in his domestic relations, there was 
nothing to prevent such meetings, or to mar the pleasure 
they were intended and calculated to afford. I am not 
much given to looking to the society of any body, as a 
means of enjoyment, but I acknowledge myself his debtor, 



30 



gtttorm of J* Blount 



in respect of such meetings, for some happy hours, during 
which, by his genial and fascinating conversation, my mind 
was beguiled into forgetfulness of its own afflictions and 
humiliations. And sometimes, too, though unfortunately 
for me, not so frequently as I could have wished, I had the 
pleasure of his society at my fireside and table. There, as 
everywhere, he was one of the most agreeable of men ; 
dignified, but unaffected and simple, joyous and facetious, 
but always sensible, candid, and just — never trifling or 
coarse in conversation. 

We were often together otherwise and otherwheres. 
We often traveled together, stopping and boarding at the 
same hotels ; and many a long walk have we taken 
together, after the adjournment, for the day, of the court 
at which we might be attending. I mention these instances 
of my social connections and intercourse with Judge 
Briggs — unimportant, and even trifling, as the mention of 
them may oppear to others — because now, since his loss, 
they constantly recur to my mind, which takes a melan- 
choly pleasure in recollecting and dwelling upon them, so 
that I could not, if I would, well suppress a reference to 
them here. But I will not longer indulge in these remem- 
brances. Your Honor and the Bar know, as well as I, 
Judge Briggs' worth as a friend and companion, — 

" And none who knew him need to be told, 
A warmer heart death ne'er made cold." 



31 



Such, Gentlemen of the Bar, is, thus far, my rude and 
hasty portraiture of our lost brother ? Is it overdrawn ? 
No. I have not uttered one word of encomium, which 
you do not all most freely and heartily endorse. But is it 
complete ? Is there not something omitted ? — 



Taking his seat to have his portrait painted, the stern 
old Protector, Oliver Cromwell, said to the artist — 
" Paint me as I am, wrinkles and all." Judge Briggs was 
a truthful and a candid man. In his life, he hated false 
and fulsome flattery, and despised the flatterer ; and, now, 
could his well-remembered voice be heard, it would say to 
us, " As you will, 6 set down naught in malice,' so ' nothing 
extenuate let the whole truth be told ; c Paint me as I 
am, wrinkles and all.' " Let us do so, tenderly and regret- 
fully, as we must, but withal, truthfully. 



Judge Briggs was not perfect. Who is ? 

"True it is, he had one failing — 
Had a mortal ever less ?" 

His was that weakness from which no orders or classes 
of men are exempt. It is found among the exalted and 
the humble, the educated and the ignorant, the great of 
intellect and the weak in mind, the rich and the poor, the 
successful and the disappointed, the prosperous and the 



32 



gttftriss of J. .Sloan* 



unfortunate ; but which is most remarked, and most de- 
plored, when it is found in the highly gifted. 

Let us look at this weakness of our late brother, its 
causes, and the influence it had upon his career : and while 
we do so, let him that has never been tempted, hold his 
peace. 



Born, if not to wealth, to a competency at least, of good 
family, reared in elegant and refined society, in the city of 
Richmond, he had a good start in life. Coming to Ohio, 
whilst he was yet a minor, he completed his education here; 
and having chosen the law as his profession, entered, with- 
out loss of time, upon the study of it, with that zeal and 
energy which characterized him in every thing he under- 
took. At the age of twenty-one, he was admitted to the 
Bar, and at once entered upon the practice. I say, " at 
once entered upon the practice," for he did ; he at once 
got business. He never dwelt in the suburbs of the Bar. 
On entering the profession, he took a respectable, and soon 
attained a high, position as a lawyer. He did not live those 
long, dreary years of doubt, and fear, and want, and obscu- 
rity, which it has been the fate of so many of the profes- 
sion to experience, who, afterward, attained success, but 
not until youth's buoyant spirits were gone, and life become 
" as stale and tedious as a twice-told tale in the dull ear of 
a drowsy man." Success came to him, whilst he was yet 
capable of enjoying it. With a handsome person, a good 



<®n tht mmth at JutTfle ffiiQQB. 33 



education, fine conversational powers, easy, frank, and 
graceful manners, and with the prestige of professional suc- 
cess, he could not have failed to be popular; and this he 
was. He was a universal favorite. He had, throughout 
life, no enemy — but himself. But this popularity was his 
bane. Tempted by it, he gave much of his time to society. 
He became something of a politician. Office was offered 
him, and he accepted. Much of his time was spent in 
public — in the Legislature, in the Courts, upon the stump. 
He was, nearly always, in the public eye. He was, almost 
constantly, subjected to mental excitement. He was, most 
of his time, surrounded by admiring and sociable friends ; 
and with them, — he took the " social glass ; " he drank, at 
first, sparingly and cautiously, afterwards, frequently and 
recklessly. This was his failing, this, his weakness ; and 
this was a fault. It was a " grievous fault, and grievously 
hath he answered it." What might Judge Briggs not have 
been and accomplished, but for this one weakness, and his 
untimely death ? He could have attained to anything to 
which an honorable ambition might have prompted him to 
aspire. 

But, let it be properly stated, and fairly understood, what 
this weakness of Judge Briggs was, and the extent to 
which he yielded to it. He never habitually yielded to 
it. His errors were occasional only ; and they had not had 
the effect to impair his general health, to dim the bright- 
ness of his eye, nor to obscure the clearness of his intellect. 
Few men were capable of doing, or did do, more hard pro- 



34 



fessional work than he, of which he never lacked a great 
abundance, and all of which he did well. No client of his 
ever suffered because of these occasional errors. The last 
time I saw him — only a few days before his death — he was 
the same noble-looking, warm-hearted, bright, elastic- 
minded man he had always been. He was with me, in my 
office in Cincinnati, nearly the whole day. We parted 
only a few minutes before the train which bore him away, 
was ready to move. It is hard to realize that that was our 
last meeting, that I shall see him no more ! 

'* Oh, why has worth so short a date, 
Whilst villains ripen gray in time? 
Must thou, the noble, generous, great, 
Fall in bold manhood's hardy prime ? " 

The answer, perhaps, is : 

" The good die first ; 
And they whose hearts are dry as summer's dust, 
Burn to the socket." 

But to resume. We have now confessed the failing, 
acknowledged the fault ; and we admit that, because of it, 
something should be deducted from the sum of his merits. 
Let the deduction be made, and still there is enough left 
to command the respect and challenge the admiration of 
all. We have added the wrinkles ; but is not the portrait, 
rudely drawn though it be, still beautiful ? Although the 
remembrance of Judge Briggs, in the minds of his friends, 
must always be associated with regrets that the brightness 



4&tt the Heath of Juttae MvIqqs. 



35 



of a character, so almost faultless in other respects, and 
so nearly perfect, should have been dimmed by the weak- 
ness I have mentioned ; yet his family and connections, as 
well as his brethren of the Bar, may well cherish a just 
pride in the exalted character for great ability and spotless 
integrity which, in his brief but busy lifetime, he achieved ; 
and those who are to succeed him, and bear the name he 
made so honorable and so honored, have, in the reputation 
he has left, something of more worth, by far, and greatly 
more to be prized, than an inheritance of moneys, and 
goods, and houses, and lands. 



In considering this failing of our departed brother, what 
is the lesson taught us ? Receive it from one who gave 
expression to that which a bitter experience had taught 
him, when he wrote : 

" Reader, attend — whether thy soul 
Soars fancy's flights beyond the pole, 
Or. darkling grubs this earthly hole, 

In low pursuit, 
Know, prudent, cautious self-control 
Is wisdom's root." 



Much more might be said befitting the occasion, and I 
am loth to quit the theme ; but I must conclude. 



36 



We offer, in our resolutions, our condolence to the family 
and relatives of the deceased ; and I wish it were in my 
power, before I resume my seat, to speak, if it were possi- 
ble, even one word of consolation to their riven and so 
grievously afflicted hearts. But I shall not attempt it. 
Their sorrow is too sacred to be intruded upon by me. 
The ceremonies we perform here, and the merited honors 
we now award to the memory of him for whom they 
mourn, will not, I trust, be distasteful to them ,• but, oh ! 
how unavailing is anything we can do or say to abate, in 
the least, the irrepressible grief of those — 

"Whom to teach 
Forgetfulness were mercy for their sake ; ^ 
The Archangel's trump, not glory's, must awake 
Him whom they weep for : though the sound of fame 
May, for a moment, soothe, it can not slake, 
The fever of vain longing, and the name, 
So honored, but assumes a stronger, bitterer claim." 

No, it is not in our power, by aught that we can say or 
do, to afford them any comfort ; but, 

" There is a voice which sorrow hears, 
When heaviest weighsjife's galling chain; 
'Tis Heaven that whispers, dry thy tears, 
The pure in hearfshall meet again.'' 



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